The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1938. FAR EAST CONTRASTS.

Evening Star, Issue 22891, 24 February 1938, Page 12

The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1938. FAR EAST CONTRASTS.

It is reported from Peking that hundreds of small Chinese villages have gone up in smoke. As a result thousands of people are homeless. This arises from a new Japanese plan to prevent villages from being used by roving bands as bases for attacks against the invaders’ lines of communication. It is not only the people of Shanghai and other cities that have suffered death -and privation on an immense scale, but a great part of the countryside covering a huge area has been ravaged, inflicting untold hardship on millions. On the same day that the message from Peking arrived a communication from Tokio reported a great movement in Japan for the Spiritual mobilisation of the nation. This has a very different meaning from the interpretation that would be put on a spiritual revival in the West. In Japan the Emperor is the semi-divine symbol of the nation’s life. The country is run by an outworn feudal oligarchy. Thus it,.is easy to imagine what lies behind this new movement. There have been many signs of unrest in the country of late, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that the war lords in a time of crisis are trying to keep the -people together in the bonds of exalted patriotism. Under the feudal system, which still persists, patriotism and the spiritual life are bound inseparably. There is no liberty in Japan as-we know it. The Diet has no legislative or executive power. Ministers are responsible only to the Emperor, by whom they are appointed, the naval and military departments being presided over by a general and an admiral respectively, and not by a civilian Minister. A very large proportion of the population is illiterate, and the censorship of the Press stem and unremitting. Taxation is crushing, and the social and public health services are. meagre in the extreme. A (British writer, who knows Japan and its conditions intimately, says: ■“ ThV truth is that this island, kingdom has acquired only the veneer of secondhand, material civilisation, to which she has made no . contribution of her own. The individual Japanese has, admirable qualities of industry, courage, endurance, and affection, but until the people can shake off the tyranny at present existing Japan can neyef come into her own.” This is the country that, without the shadow of justice or reason, is attempting to subdue China, to become master of Eastern Asia, and to shut out the nations of the West from friendly trading intercourse and cultural relations.

In the House of Commons Sir Arthur Salter issued ; a warning of what the result would be if Japan"had her way. Instead of the new Chinese State which was being rebuilt, there would be an alien domination. Instead ■of the rebuilding of the economic system of China oh the promising basis that had been established in the last few years, there would be a harsh economic exploitation. Instead of the civilising work of educational establishments and of missionaries there would be, as happened in parts of China previously occupied, by Japan, a . deliberate extension ,of debauchery by the opium traffic. Sir- ■ Arthur Salter expressed the belief that success by Japan in her designs on the mainland would be “ one of the greatest historic tragedies in the world.” Sir Archibald Sinclair dwelt on, the size and importance of Britain’s interests in' China. British trade for the first nine months of last year amounted to £12,000,000, excluding Hongkong and Manchuria. Britain’s investments in China reach altogether a total of about £240,000,000. The trade of the ports of Shanghai and Hongkong-is tremendous. There is not a port in' Europe except (Rotterdam, not one in' Britain except London, not one in America except New York, and not one in Asia except Kobe which has a trade equal to that of HongSong and Shanghai. All these sources yield important revenues to the British exchequer and give employment to British workpeople. It is not only the Western nations that have gained iby the trading activities in China, The effect of the intercourse was that the country was being greatly developed by Western capital, the use of machinery, and the employment of technical processes. As a consequence the standard of living of the people was being gradually improved. All this seems likely to be lost in the face of the determination, of the Japanese militarists to take control of the country and to rule it with an iron hand.